


The Comfort of Home

by HellHathNoFury



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post-Conclave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 09:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16115408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellHathNoFury/pseuds/HellHathNoFury
Summary: Allura tries to pull off a thoughtful surprise now Kima has moved into the tower with her.





	The Comfort of Home

_ "Kima, do not open this before I get home tonight. _

_ Love, Allura" _

Kima folded the card closed again and took a step back to take in the absolutely massive parcel that had appeared in their living room sometime during the day. It wasn't the only one, spread throughout the room were several more large boxes wrapped in the same, unmarked brown paper.

Kima was usually very good at letting things like this go. It was Allura who often ran into trouble with her uncurbed curiosity to figure stuff out. A recent example of an unreadable book in a necromancer's cave and an exploding brazier came to mind. Kima didn't have any trouble with that. Sometimes stuff was just stuff you shouldn't be messing with. However, several large crates appearing in her home with a message not to open them for several more hours was testing even Kima's patience.

She circled all boxes, tapping the sides as if that could give her any clue as to what was inside. She even went as far as to cast Detect Magic to see if that offered any insight, but the contents of the crates were either not magical, or protected from that kind of scrying.

'Whatever,' Kima muttered, kicking the side of one of the crates. Nothing happened. Why would Allura do this to her? How could she expect her not to be curious about this?

It wasn't like she could avoid looking at the boxes either. They were taking up all the free space in their rooms, and the only other rooms the tower had where Allura's libraries, which were very boring, or her own training room two floors down, which she had just returned from.

There was nothing else for her to do but wait until Allura got home. Or... she could open one up, sneak a little peek and clean up all evidence before Allura got home. Just to satisfy her curiosity and let her go on with her day. The problem was -- and there were a couple -- that she had no idea when exactly Allura would be home, nor was she certain she could return the packaging to its original state after opening it. And even if she could pull that off before Allura got home, she was a terrible liar, and Allura would see right through her. No, she really would have to wait for Allura to come home. Bahamut's balls...

Kima made it about 10 minutes before the annoying mystery of what was in the boxes, worked its way to the forefront of her mind.

She just had no idea what it could be. Allura hadn't said anything about making any large purchases, either for work or home. Although, the parcels being delivered into the living room made Kima think that whatever was inside them, was meant for home use.

So, what could it be?

Allura hadn't told her about it, which meant it was either a surprise or an impulse buy from her wife. Both were equally likely.

Once again, Kima paced the perimeter of the large box. It was about the size of their bed, only not as high and she had no idea what could be inside it.

The other boxes had varying circumferences, all smaller, but none where so high Kima couldn't see over them, which was odd all by itself. Most of the things in the tower required some ingenuity for Kima to use, them being sized for human-use and all. It wasn't anything new, and Kima would gladly climb on top of chairs and counters to be able to kiss Allura, or sit, or eat, or prepare any food. It was a little inconvenient, but that is what you got when you were a halfling married to a human. Her parents' house had had the opposite problem; her father must have hit his head on every beam in their house twice over. And apart from some mage somehow inventing magically shrinking and growing furniture, Kima didn't see that changing anytime soon.

Kima glared at the boxes one last time and then decided that if she wanted them to remain unopened until Allura, she had to leave this room.

So, instead, she went into the kitchen to get started on dinner. She might make it a full three-course meal, seeing as it was about four in the afternoon and she had quite a bit of time to kill before Allura returned home.

Kima was stirring the soup for their second course -- Allura was later than expected -- when she heard the telltale hum of the approaching magic platform. She flung the ladle onto the counter and raced back into the living room.

'You!' Kima yelled, skidding into the room and pointing at Allura. 

Allura spun around, brows drawn together as she faced her.

'You left me alone all day! With a bunch of boxes! And then told me not to open them! I should smite you for inflicting that evil upon me!'

Allura stared at her for a moment and then laughed. 'I'm sorry?'

'No, you're not,' Kima muttered, grabbing Allura by the hand and dragging her towards the nearest parcel. 'Open this. Now.'

Allura chuckled and started untying the strings keeping the paper. 'I hadn't realized how tantalizing this would be for you.'

'Yes. It was. Now please, I love you, but if you don't open this right now, I will take my maul to these boxes.'

Allura chuckled. 'Alright, I'm sorry. I just wanted to surprise you. Please, don't smash these boxes, it would harm the contents.'

'Well, I wouldn't know, now would I? I have no idea what's in them!'

Allura then took pity on her -- and probably saved the contents from being smashed to bits -- and cast a spell that made all wrappings fall away in a fraction of the time it would have taken to unwrap.

Allura walked up and wrapped her arms around Kima's shoulders, pulling her against her chest. 'Surprise.'

For the past few hours, Kima's mind had been running itself ragged trying to imagine what was inside the boxes that had taken up residence in their living room. But never in a million years, would she have been able to guess this. Inside the box, there was a bed. A typical bed, standing next to the bed they already had.

'Okay, I am surprised. Why did you buy another bed?' Kima asked, throwing her head back to look at Allura.

Allura's eyes glowed with magic for the second time, and the packaging on the other boxes fell away.

As Kima noticed the other pieces of furniture around the room, and it was indeed all furniture, she spotted what they all had in common.

'They're short,' Kima remarked, walking over to the new couch to inspect it. It was blue, as all their furniture tended to be, and it was close enough to the ground that Kima could sit down on it without any acrobatics. The same for the bed. The new table was even weirder. It was so low to the ground, the only way Kima could envision sitting at it, was to sit on the floor.

'They are,' Allura nodded. 'I realized recently that our house is not very accessible for you, and that it should be. We live here together now, and you should be able to use our furniture without a running start.'

'I don't need a running start... How are you going to sit down now?'

'Gracefully,'  Allura said, her skirts swishing as she sat down, very easily, onto the low couch. 'It is far easier for me to bend down a little lower than for you to have to climb on top of chairs to be able to use them.

Kima joined her on the couch. It really was a lot easier, and as she cuddled into Allura's side, she also found it incredibly comfortable.

'You got a couch, not another pair of armchairs, why?'

Allura chuckled and kissed the top of her head. 'I thought it might be nice to be able to cuddle with you. Couches are more conducive to that than separate chairs.'

'Wise choice,' Kima said, burying her face against Allura's side.

Allura ran her hand up and down Kima's back.

'So, what do you think? Was it worth not knowing what was in the boxes?'

Kima nodded, trying to wipe her eyes without Allura noticing.

'Are you crying?' Allura asked.

'No,' Kima sniffed. 'Yes.'

Allura smiled softly as she wiped at Kima's cheeks. 'Why are you crying, love?'

Kima shrugged. 'You didn't have to do this. No one has ever done this for me. I mean, I lived at the Sanctuary for 15 years, and when I asked Vord if I could lower the doorknob on my door to a more comfortable height, he said I could just stand on a stool or something. You really didn't have to do this, Allie.'

Allura pulled Kima closer and nuzzled her hair. 'I absolutely did have to. You are my wife, and this is our home, and you should be comfortable here, just like I am.'

'Thank you,' Kima muttered into Allura's dress. 'You're amazing.'

'This is not something extraordinary, Kima. This is something I should have done ages ago.'

Kima shrugged, pushing onto her knees to get onto the right height to kiss Allura. 'You still have a two-decade head start on Vord, and my mom never modified our home for my dad, so you got her beat as well.'

Allura chuckled. 'I just want you to feel at home with me.'

'I'll always feel at home with you. I felt at home with you when we were on the road. I felt at home with you in our tiny house in Whitestone, I felt at home with you in this tower yesterday and will feel at home here tomorrow. It is you I feel at home with, Allura. I love you. And while I am definitely a fan of this couch, it won't make me feel more at home; you already do that.'

Allura smiled. 'You make me feel at home too.'

Kima kissed her again. 'So, what are we going to do with the old furniture?'

'No, you cannot use it for target practice,' Allura deadpanned.

'I wasn't going to! Just the chairs...'

'No, we can give them away. To other people looking to make a comfortable home.'

'Fine, I guess that a good cause.' Kima grinned and burrowed herself deeper into Allura’s arms.

Allura chuckled. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Cuddling, that’s why you got this couch, right?’

Allura rolled her eyes but still kissed the top of Kima’s head. ‘Alright, let’s cuddle.’

Kima smiled. There was no place she would rather be than here, at home, with her wife.


End file.
